This invention is directed towards electronic data collection, and more particularly towards a system and method for remote collection and processing of biomedical data.
As medical science advances, more and better sensors and equipment are available to help monitor and maintain patients. However, such equipment is often expensive and difficult to properly use. Therefore, many patients must visit medical facilities on a regular basis in order to have tests and measurements done. This is expensive and inconvenient for many patients on an out-patient basis. Providing biomedical sensors and equipment which can be used by patients and users in their homes is a reasonable and cost saving solution. But biomedical systems in medical offices and especially in patients homes may frequently be used by users with minimal technical skills and therefore the exploitation of such systems should be as simple as possible. To make such systems affordable for a widespread use at patient homes the system""s cost should be minimized, including cost of hardware and software.
A real-time system for collection and processing of biomedical data using cards inserted in the slots of PC that supports the PCMCIA bus standard was previously described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,179 and issued to Lichter. The PCMCIA bus was designed for portable PC types such as xe2x80x9claptopxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnotebook.xe2x80x9d In accordance with Lichter, each additional biomedical signal requires an additional PCMCIA card. Thus the number of cards needed is equal to the number of signals to be measured. This makes the system described in Lichter cumbersome and expensive. Additional disadvantage of such an approach is related to the fact that not all manufacturers produce PCMCIA-compatible PCs. To overcome the incompatibility problem four PCMCIA standards were designedxe2x80x94from PCMCIA type 1 to PCMCIA type 4.
The approach proposed in Lichter also requires that the software that controls the process of collecting and processing the incoming biomedical information from each PCMCIA card, be permanently installed in the user""s PC. As a result the user have to purchase the specialized data acquisition software which increases the cost of the system. In addition, the user must possess sufficient technical skills to install the specialized software. This complicates the usage of the system not only at the stage of initial installation of the specialized software but also each time when software upgrade installation is required.
A remote pulmonary function tester to assess lung function at a patient""s home and to transmit the collected information to a remote data center was previously described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,756 and issued to Dunning. According to Dunning, the information was sent via a telephone line to a central computer to assess patient functional status. The tester consisted from pressure transducer, Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), keyboard for alphanumeric data entry, microprocessor system for data storage and identification, modem interface to communicate with the central computer over telephone line and a microprocessor to control the tester. The functionality of the system is permanently limited by analysis of a predefined set of lung function parameters without a possibility of any modification. The signal acquisition and data analysis software must be permanently installed in the user""s computer.
A system for monitoring and reporting medical measurements and transmission of the collected information to remote terminal for assessment by a clinician was described in such patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,549,117; 5,626,144; 5,704,366; and 5,732,709, all to Tacklind et al. The system is similar to the one described in Lichter since software for data collections, analysis and transfer should reside permanently in the user""s microprocessor unit. The system is for analysis of one signal exclusively.
A method and apparatus for automated spirometry data acquisition and processing was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,469 and issued to Nelson. The apparatus includes a printed circuit board inserted in PC internal slot and connected with PC bus from one side and with a volumetric spirometer from another side. The printed circuit board includes hardware logic for analog signal pre-processing, ADC and interface for PC bus. The software to control the printed circuit board and to analyze the received data is permanently installed in the PC. The approach implemented in this apparatus has several limitations. Installation of the printed circuit board into internal PC slot requires opening the computer case and can be performed only by a person with sufficient technical skills. Part of signal processing is implemented in the printed circuit board hardware and therefore is impossible to change or upgrade without replacing the entire printed circuit board. The specialized data acquisition software which is supposed permanently reside on the computer hard drive consumes hard drive space. If the hard drive is damaged the entire apparatus becomes non-functional. In addition, the software can become non-functional if the entire software package or some of its components are accidentally erased by a person or damaged by a computer virus. These situations would have to be recognized by a professional and would require complete software re-installation. Each software installation or update requires certain percent of time effort of a skilled personnel.
A portable device to measure parameters of expiratory air flow is described in Vitalograph manual, published by Vitalograph Ltd., Maids Moreton House, Buckingham, MK18 1SW, England, Ref. No. 07038, Issue 1, 1998. The device""s data processing logic is fully implemented in its hardware. The electronic circuit of this device is responsible for air flow signal registration, analysis and presentation of the measured parameters. The device also includes digital data interface to transfer analysis results to PC via a serial port. The device sends to PC the results of data processing for storage and further analysis. Specialized software should be permanently installed on PC hard drive to allow the data transmission feature. The specialized software allows data transmission from the portable device to PC but it does not allow to send data to a remote computer. To implement this feature for the described system it would be necessary to develop and install on the PC additional custom software.
In summary, based on the disclosed prior art, current systems for collecting and processing of biomedical information follow one of two conceptual models as illustrated in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B. Each model includes both hardware and software. Hardware in the model 1 includes set of sensors Si (at least one sensor in some cases), printed circuit cards Ci (at least one card in some cases) to process and convert analog signals into a digital form, and digital data interface providing compliance with one of the standard computer data interfaces. The software is represented by an executable modules (at least one in some cases) which permanently reside in the computer and should be pre-installed before the hardware is being used.
According to the prior art 1 presented in FIG. 1A, the Hardware Unit (HU) is responsible for collecting, processing and conversion of biomedical information registered by the sensor/s. The HU transfers the obtained information to the computer for further analysis via one of pre-selected standardized data interfaces. Thus, the data processing is distributed between hardware and software and the task distribution depends on a particular implementation.
The prior art 2 presented in the FIG. 1B differs from the model 1 in that it allows transmit information from the computer to a remote data processing center via a modem. The information may then be stored in a remote computer and analyzed by a remote user.
There is a common feature in the both models which limits their functionality: the specialized software modules should be pre-installed before the hardware is being used, and the software should permanently reside in the user""s computer (or in a specialized microprocessor unit). In addition, there is need in installation of supplemental custom software modules if information transfer to a remote data processing center is required. The functionality of entire system and hardware unit in particular depends on reliability and integrity of software modules which permanently reside in the computer. If the long-term storage in the computer, where the software resides, malfunctions or integrity of software components is compromised, the entire system becomes non-functional. Such situations require involvement of a skilled professional who is capable to diagnose a problem and to re-install software if necessary. The necessity of installing specialized custom software or its upgrades to reside permanently in the computing device makes such systems for processing of biomedical information more complicated, costly and more prone to malfunctioning.
The present invention provides for a system for collecting biomedical information from a patient, comprising a data measurement component, which includes at least one sensing component, the sensing component providing signals representing sensed patient data to a communications port, the communications port to allow connection to a computer system through a computer system communications port. The computer system includes pre-installed software which is responsible for requesting a specialized software module, receiving the specialized software module from the remote server and allowing the specialized software module to be executed at the computer system. The remote server includes pre-installed software which is responsible for accepting request from the computer system for the specialized software module and sending the specialized software module to the computer system according to the request. A remote server includes one or more specialized software modules, which are capable of communicating with the data measurement component through the computer system communications port. The remote server, upon receiving a request from the computer system, will transmit one of the specialized software modules which are appropriate for collecting and interpreting the signals representing sensed patient data from the at least one sensing component.
The transmitted specialized software module, after it is received by the computer system, initializes and controls the operation of the data measurement components, receives the signals representing sensed patient data from the at least one sensing component through the computer system communications port, and processes the signals into biomedical information. Optionally, the transmitted specialized software module will transmit the biomedical information to the remote server, or another remote location. The specialized software module allows the computer system user to choose an address or addresses of the remote location for sending the collected biomedical information from an existing list, to update this list by adding or removing remote locations, or to disable the data transmission to a remote location at all. The specialized software module also allows the user to designate which portion of collected data should be transmitted to a certain remote location (such as row sensed data, calculated parameters, personal information, etc.).
The present invention also provides for a method of collecting biomedical information from a data measurement component. The present invention includes the steps of connecting the data measurement component to a computer system through a communication port on the computer system, to allow the data measurement component to communicate with the computer system; then using the computer system to request from a remote server a specialized software module. The specialized software module is to control the operation of the data measurement component and collect data from it. Further steps include receiving the specialized software module by the computer system via a network connection; activating and running the specialized software module by the computer system; initializing and controlling the data measurement component by means of the specialized software module; receiving and processing data from the data measurement component through the communication port on the computer system by means of the specialized software module.
The present invention provides a cost-effective multi-channel system for collecting, processing and storing biomedical information about a patient""s condition. The system and method according to the present invention is simple to use, has minimum hardware and software components and allows transmitting the patient information to the remote user if deemed necessary.
The present invention sufficiently differs from the previous ones because it does not require the software for real-time biomedical information processing to be manually installed on the user""s computer and to permanently reside in the long-term storage of the computer system. In one embodiment of the present invention, the specialized software is requested from a remote server when the user is going to obtain data from sensors and is sent to the user""s computer in the form of an Internet applet which controls hardware and processes information.
The present invention has several advantages over existing models. The system is cost-effective because (1) the amount of hardware components, which usually carry most of the production cost, is reduced to a minimum, and (2) there is no need in specialized software installation in the user""s computer. The hardware is minimized because all functionality, which may possibly be implemented in software, is delegated to the applets allowing to strip down the hardware only to a minimal set of components (for example, sensors, ADC, data interface). The elimination of the necessity to pre-install software and to keep the software permanently on the computer saves storage space on hard drive, saves time and monetary resources necessary for professional installation, upgrade and software troubleshooting. Because the applet is sent from a remote server and is not required to be permanently stored in the user""s computer the upgrade may occur seamlessly without any user involvement. Because almost all functionality is implemented in applets, and not in hardware, almost all aspects of data processing are now subject for a seamless upgrade.
Further, while adding new functionality (remote connectivity) the present invention provides much simpler operational environment because (1) the present invention does not require user involvement in software installation and upgrade, and (2) because the specialized software operates in a well known and commonly used user-friendly environment (such as Web-browser).
Still another advantage is the ease of use of the system by patients. The patient or user does not need to worry about collecting, processing and sending the data to the proper parties. This is all performed automatically, and therefore the risk of lost or incorrect data is greatly reduced. Another innovative component of this invention is that, while web browsers generally are being used to obtain patient information from users by manual data entry (using keyboard or mouse), this invention provides means to use web browser for collecting biomedical information directly from multiple bio-sensors. This allows the collection and processing of complex biomedical information with minimal patient effort and using familiar and user-friendly web-browser interface. The user therefore has a great incentive to perform such measurements since the user""s effort is minimal. Therefore the present invention will help increase the usage of home biomedical sensors by patients and thereby help the patients provide themselves with the proper care.